The Christmas Clue by Delores Fossen Read Free Book Online

have time to catch her breath before they started running.

Chapter Five
     
    Matt considered every step to be a victory. But of course the only victory that counted was for them to make it through the clearing without getting shot.
    He pushed Cass ahead of him so he could shield her as best he could and catch her if she fell. Yet despite the thorny underbrush and the limb-riddled ground, she not only stayed on her feet, she ran even faster than Matt imagined she could. But then, she had a huge motivation to run.
    A spray of bullets tore into the ground. They were close, but not close enough. Which told Matt one important thing—the smoke screen had worked. Because if it hadn’t, Cass and he would have been dead.
    With bullets zinging around them, Matt spotted the crest just ahead. “Hit the ground,” Matt ordered. “Slide down.”
    Cass did. Just as the bullets stopped. She dropped onto her butt and began the descent down the remains of the banks of a ravine. The dark-green rust-eaten truck was there, waiting for them. It didn’t look like much, but Matt knew that it worked, and it was their ticket to safety. It was literally his backup, a vehicle he’d placed in the woods in case the worst happened.
    “Don’t slow down,” Matt warned her when they reached the bottom. By now the gunman was probably off the roof so he could come after them.
    Cass raced toward the truck, jerked open the passenger-side door and jumped onto the seat. Matt got behind the wheel and used the key that was duct-taped beneath the seat to start the engine. He slammed his foot on the accelerator and got them out of there.
    “Stay down,” Matt insisted.
    She did, sort of. Cass slid lower into the seat, but she kept her attention focused on the side mirror. She also kept a solid grip on her gun. Matt kept watch, as well, and then he got them the hell out of there.
    Kicking up ice and dirt, he plowed through the ravine and exited onto a path that would eventually take them to a back road and then the highway.
    Matt dodged some scrub oaks, barely scraping past them, and he checked the rearview mirror. No gunman in sight. That didn’t mean there soon wouldn’t be. He had to make it past the next rise and dry creek bed before he could even start to level his breathing.
    Next to him, Cass was doing her own share of heavy breathing. He could see every muscle in her body knotted, the pulse on her neck pounding. The adrenaline was no doubt still pumping through her. It wouldn’t last long, and she’d soon have to deal with the inevitable crash.
    “I don’t see him,” Cass announced. “Do you think he’ll come after us?”
    “Not easily he won’t. By now he’s probably rushing back to his vehicle. Maybe calling for reinforcements. If we’re lucky, he might be making arrangements to get his comrade to the hospital.”
    Matt knew he should call headquarters. He should report this, especially since he’d discharged his weapon and injured a man. But what if Cass was right? What if there was a breach in security? If so, his personal cell phone would be easy to track.
    She checked the mirror again. Then she leaned forward and tried to turn on the heater.
    “It doesn’t work,” he explained, turning off the cold blast of air from the fan. “There’s a blanket behind the seat.”
    While still staying low, she draped her arm over the back of the seat and fished it out. “There’s only one blanket?”
    He nodded. “Use it. Your lips are turning blue.”
    Matt wasn’t sure she was going to follow his advice, but then she glanced down at the front of her camisole, noticing her very erect nipples. And that wasn’t the only thing. The camisole was short, and the shortness revealed several inches of her bare stomach.
    He felt that slam of lust shoot through his body, and he silently cursed his brainless reaction.
    “Cover up,” he snarled.
    She did, finally, but she kept her shooting arm free by draping the fake Navajo-design blanket over